Gainsborough Trinity manager Brian Little admitted his side were more than a little lucky to return to Lincolnshire with a victory after they defeated Market Drayton Town 2-1.

Little, who guided Aston Villa to the 1996 League Cup, was full of praise for Drayton who were undone by a Ryan Semple double in Saturday’s FA Cup second qualifying round tie.

And the 55-year-old, who only took charge of Trinity three weeks ago, said: “I think we could count ourselves fortunate to win, that’s the truth, although when we scored the first goal I thought we would have probably kicked on.

“That goal then gave them the impetus just before half time and we knew it was going to be really hard second half.

“They’re very unlucky not to be coming back for at least a draw and a replay at our place. Credit to them I thought they worked really hard and it’s been a really good experience for us.”

Trinity took the lead five minutes before the break only for Jamie Haynes to level for Town on the stroke of half time from the spot.

But Semple’s 84th minute winner was enough to earn Gainsborough a victory – and a much relieved Little his first win in three games.

“We’ve lost two bad games poorly and we’ve come here with not much confidence so I think in that respect the result was the most important thing,” he added.

“We’re not defending overly well at the moment so that’s why towards the end we went with a three man midfield and three strikers just to block off their wide players and block off their midfield and try and protect our defenders.

“And I thought we looked a little bit better even though, credit to them, to the last minute they were always likely to get something out of the game.

“I have to thank them for a very competitive game. They were very competitive – we didn’t expect anything less – and it’s been a hard day for us.”